First Full Reviews of The Human Division Are Out
Posted on March 11, 2013 Posted by John Scalzi 15 Comments
They come from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. And they are good, I am happy to say.
The Kirkus Review (which, by the way, if you have a Kirkus subscription, has a major spoiler in it for an as-yet-unpublished episode, so be aware) is difficult to quote from, except for the very last bit:
A Heinlein-like adventure for a serious sci-fi fan.
I don’t mind that at all.
The Publishers Weekly review, on the other hand, is full of nice quote-y bits:
Scalzi’s hectically paced and philosophical continuation of the Old Man’s War series is an invigorating and morally complex interstellar thriller with heart… Deeply realized characters and stinging webs of political and social deceit lend mystery and emotionally harsh realism to a thrilling setting of deep space and distant worlds.
I’m pleased. Despite the fact the people had been asking me to go back into the OMW universe for a while, I was hesitant, both because I wanted to be sure I had a good enough story to tell, and because (hello, prequel trilogy) just because people want you to revisit a favorite thing doesn’t mean they’re always happy with the result. These reviews suggest I stuck this particular dismount. I think I’ll have a cookie.
Okay okay, then…time to post mine. Stand by…
John, you deserve a cookie for this. In fact, have a second cookie, on me.
I think you deserve a full churro waffles breakfast. With bacon.
Congratulations. I just put a copy on reserve at my local library – I am third in line.
Congrats there, John.
Personally, I think The Human Division needs more Jar Jar Binks.
(Do I need a sarcasm tag for that?)
I’ve enjoyed all of the episodes so far, so yes I think you stuck the dismount.
Congrats!
I had a dyslexic moment when I read the quote you put up from Publisher’s Weekly:
Scalzi’s heretically paced
What the heck? Then I re-read it and it makes more sense.
Looking forward to reading The Human Division when it comes out in dead-tree format.
Hi, John. I was completely blown away by Old Man’s War (I’m a big fan of Haldeman’s and Heinlein’s works). Forgive me if this question has been answered somewhere else… Are the Human Division stories going to be released as a single ebook eventually?
Hurray for sticky dismounts… Ummmm, that did NOT come out right. ;-)
Always good to get a positive review from Kirkus.
Personally, I would not compare you to Heinlein because you do not portray the militarized society in the Colonies as a good thing. You also don’t fill your books with creepy sexual shit either.
Bah, you just finished one rotation, you need to hit the other equipment! No seriously I have been loving the stories so far. I hope you will continue to write more stories in the OMW universe.
OMW universe stories are great and I’m enjoying the current ones very much.
That said, I would prefer that a writer of Johns demonstrated skills and apparent flexability continue to experiment with different themes and even genres. When you look at what he did with The God Engines in such a short novella, it’s pretty damn clear he has both the fertile imagination to create worlds,the skills to alter his style so completely as to be unrecognizable, and yet still entertain.
I know publishing seems to be all about multi book stories, but for myself I like NEW stories that let writers breathe.
Gratz John, well deserved. I’m a slow-poke reader & only up to chap 4 now, but am hooked & loving it so far!
Btw, I’ve been following your Random House rants & feel a bit miffed after you kind of chastised me in another thread about ‘big content’, just a few day earlier. Do I get an apology now? ;-p
Yes, I know Tor is infinitely better than other big content trying to pull these sorts of stunts, but let’s be honest – they are all only in it for the money, as per any other company in the western ‘civilised’ world’, so let’s not pretend Tor or even ‘Mother Teresa Publications’ aren’t capable of this kind of crap. In the end, they’ve set up & controlled the framework & industry so that independent authors & smaller players can’t break in easily, so it is a bit of a conspiracy play. Just like Big Music/Hollywood/Software/Games/Advertising – basically operating like the cartels they are, unashamedly so in 2013. With more & more walled gardens springing up online (e.g. Apple, Amazon, etc), you can see where I’m coming from. I also experience this first-hand, having been in the ICT world for the past 30 years almost.
But now that you’re a big name & have an established fan base, self-publishing the written word on the web, or in fact creating your own publishing label, & relying on word-of-mouth & independent reviews would make sense I would think. Have you not thought about it or is it not an option for other reasons? Does a large proportion of your sales still come from paper sales, in this day & age? Are you still bound by the need for advertising & artwork etc? Even so, I would like to see 75-90% of the profits go to you for each ebook, rather than 10-25% (just guessing of course). Are you forbidden by the contracts from selling ebooks direct to the public perhaps? Sorry, I know, I’m nosey :).